APRIL 2022

VOlUME 05 ISSUE 04 APRIL 2022
Managing Disruptive Change through Leadership in Schools
Remigio Chingara
Lecturer at Great Zimbabwe University, Zimbabwe
DOI : https://doi.org/10.47191/ijsshr/v5-i4-45

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ABSTRACT

Prior to the Covid-19 global pandemic, school heads used to operate within known boundaries, with clear parameters, with set duty roasters, with clear lines of accountability and rules governing most things. Bureaucracy and by implication managerial leadership was the preferred approach to leading and managing. However, the context in which this approach was preferred has changed significantly because of the Covid-19 pandemic. Schools are now operating within prescribed Covid-19 guidelines. A raft of new measures such as physical distancing, wearing of face masks, hand washing, use of sanitisers and other public health protocols are now part of the new practices to reduce the spread of the disease.

The new ‘normal’ in school leadership has proved more difficult than the preCovid-19 one. It is a completely new ball game altogether, with no precedent or blueprint to learn from and yet school heads have to thrive in this unfamiliar territory. The problem is that they are now operating in an unfamiliar context, with new unfamiliar roles. This paper draws attention to the leadership practices that school heads can use to manage this disruptive change brought by the Covid-19 pandemic. It draws on lessons from experiences from elsewhere in the world to provide leadership practices that school heads can use.

KEYWORDS:

Leadership, Complexity theory. Systems theory, School. Covid-19

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VOlUME 05 ISSUE 04 APRIL 2022

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